-
Lyudmil Naydenov, Dimitar Tsenov
COVID-19 EFFECTS ON TAX GAPS
Summary:
The paper examines the issues related to the impact of COVID-19 on tax gaps in Bulgaria. The authors define the various tax gaps in terms of their theoretical, practical and technical grounds as well as unique characteristics. The authors have analysed the dynamics of the gap between the tax and social insurance revenues in the Consolidated Fiscal Program (CFP) as they “should be” collected and as they “are” collected and prove that it was affected directly by the global COVID-19 pandemic. They justify the need for an innovative approach that would take into account the changed realities and the important role of CFP components for improving the public welfare and the sustainability of our economy. The research subject are tax gaps and its object is the impact of COVID-19 on the difference between the volume of collected and planned revenues from direct taxes, indirect taxes, social security and health insurance contributions in Bulgaria. The general conclusion is that the pandemic, which has lasted for already over a year, has slowed down the economy and hence has a negative affect on tax gaps in our country.
-
Lyudmil Naydenov
Inter-Jurisdictional Tax Competition – the Bulgarian Case
Summary:
The paper highlights the specific features of inter-jurisdictional tax competition, and the related positive effects and risks. It analyzes the tax policy of the Bulgarian local authorities and discusses the factors limiting the inter-jurisdictional tax competition in our country. On the basis of specific data on the dynamics of the rates of key local taxes, it is argued that there is lack of a targeted policy of attracting and retaining a tax base through the manipulation of tax rates. It is concluded that the tax rates of the local taxes in Bulgaria are most often at the average of the legally defined upper and lower limits. It is supported that the low value of the ratio Revenues and aids in the municipal budgets / GDP does not motivate entrepreneurs to invest in a particular jurisdiction because of the differences in the absolute amount of local taxes.
-
Zornitsa Petkova
The Joint Operation of Institutions – Factors
for Increasing Revenue Collectibility
Summary:
Major sources of revenue for the state budget include taxes collected from the National Revenue Authority and the Customs Agency. These account for nearly 90 per cent of the revenue of the state budget. The specialist structures of the Ministry of the Interior (the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and the Economic Police) play an important role in minimising the losses incurred to the state budget through non-payment of customs duties on smuggled goods. This role is crucial in exercising control on excisable goods due to the large size of duties levied on them. Hence, one of the factors for improving the fiscal efficiency of customs administration and preventing and detecting customs and excise violations is the implementation of joint operations with the National Revenue Agency and the Min¬istry of the Interior.
This paper aims to assess the current condition of joint operations conducted by the Customs Authority, the NRA, and the Ministry of the Interior in order to prove their efficiency in terms of the supervision exercised by the customs authority.
-
Mariyana Pavlova Banova
FISCAL DECENTRALISATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA – FINANCIAL EFFECTS AND REGIONAL ASPECTS
Summary:
Fiscal decentralization, which aims to enhance local au¬to¬no¬my in terms of transferring rights, obligations and duties from a gover¬n¬men¬tal to a municipal level, needs to ensure the efficient exploitation of public resources and the provision of high-quality public services at the optimum cost. Changes in local govern¬ment which have been going on for two decades now raise the issue of the results which have been achieved in this respect so far. The objective of this paper is to study the degree of decentralization of the public sector in Bul-garia and to assess the financial independence, investment activity and effi-ciency of selected municipalities in Bulgaria.
-
Mariyana Pavlova Banova
FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION IN EUROPE: EFFECTS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ FISCAL AUTONOMY
Summary:
The European Charter of Local Self-Government, which was ratified by almost all European member states, provides for the decentralization of power and the transfer of competences and financial resources to local communities as well as extends local authorities’ tax collection and budgetary spending responsibilities. In reality, however, the increased spending responsibilities and the limited self-financing powers of the municipalities in our country raise the question of the degree of their dependence on the cen¬tral government. This paper presents a survey which aims to measure and assess the degree of tax autonomy of local governments in Bulgaria compared to their counterparts from other EU member states by means of a set of indicators and thus to determine one of the effects of fiscal decentralization – lo¬cal self-government’s tax autonomy.